With the ever-increasing popularity of the Internet, more and more personal computers are connected to larger networks. Recently, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) have been developed that connect computers to a network via one or more Wireless Access Points (WAP) distributed throughout a network site. Devices such as laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDA's) and even cellular phones may connect to the network via radiofrequency, microwave, or other electromagnetic signals without any physical connection, such as a wire, cable or optical fiber, between the device and the WAP. Such WLANs have a lot advantages over conventional LANs associated with this wireless connectivity feature. For example, a wireless local area network (WLAN) can provide network access in situations where the wires, cables or optical fibers associated with a conventional LAN inhibit the mobility of devices and users. At the same time, this enhanced connectivity brings a new series of network security issues. The biggest concern is that as the traditional barrier of entry to the enterprise is no longer a barrier to the wireless signals. Network administrators are thus extremely worried about what's going on in their LAN due to the connection of wireless devices to an existing LAN. The same concern exists for large enterprise networks as each individual could bring his own network device and connect to the existing local area network (LAN) without the permission of network administrators.
Thus there is a need in the art for methods for regulating access and maintaining security of local area networks (LANs) and corresponding systems for implementing such methods.